#palindrom

References explanations:

Kashlyauchuy Ed - another alias of Palindrom.

Petro Mostavchuk - popular ukrainian raper MC Petya, author of many viral songs and memes.

Alina Pash - popular rap/pop artist. Got herself in a scandal where it was revealed she illegally visited Crimea after it was occupied and forged documents to take part in the Eurovision selection. Because of her behaviour in this situation and others, for many people she has become a symbol of cringe performative patriotism.

Vyshyvanka is a national embroided shirt.

House on the edge - famous ukrainian aphorism "I don't know nothing, my house is on the edge" used to describe our problematic national trait of only caring about your own house and your own family, and staying idle and indifferent while your neighbour suffers.

Scriptonit - famous Kazakh-russian rapper.

Tustan - ancient fortress in Western Ukraine.

Solovki - Solovetsky archipelago located in the White sea, the site of the first Gulag establishment, many ukrainians were sent there by the soviets.

30 years behind the broom and the taste of scoop in the mouth - "Scoop" is a mocking way to refer to the soviet union. Palindrom is refering to the fact that, despite Ukraine's 30-year long formal independence, for the most part the "new brooms" weren't new at all - the people who came to power were from the same establishment that represented soviet union, and they continued the repression of our national identity and independance.

Stimorol - a danish chewing gum, popular in the 90s. After the fall of the soviet union imported goods started appearing in the shop, and for post-soviet kids it was like a novel delicacy.

Because they already "need to run" - "need to run" ("pora valyt' " is a russian meme that means fleeing from a shitstorm (usually of your own doing). Here, Palindrom refers to politicians who have been stealing from Ukraine for decades and ran away at the first signs of trouble. In their stead, the conscious community needs to step up, stop being idle and claim the power for themselves.

Kuchma - second ukrainian president from 1994 to 2005. In the 2000-2001 there were massive protests known as "Ukraine without Kuchma" that called for his removal. The turning point was the assassination of a ukrainian journalist Georgy Gongadze, the founder of the independent "Ukrainian pravda" magazine. When his beheaded corpse was found, Kuchma has long denied his involment and the SBU has performed a ridiculous theatre of sham investigation. His family believes that the real culprits of the assassination remain unpunished.

Now, cultural references from the music video:

The videoclip used at the beginning of the music video is from the 1972 movie "Reveal yourself" about the most famous ukrainian philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda, directed by Rolan Serhiyenko. The quote says "Search. Knock on all doors. Sweep your house clean. Dig through it. Rummage through everything. Look through nooks and crannies. Search in every cache. Try everything out. Listen carefully. This is the wisest, the sweetest curiosity. Never stop thinking, and you will know yourself".

During the whole video Palindrom is standing in front of a model of a ukrainian hut (and a bit stereotypical one, for that). Note the cardboard kalashnikovs.

Idk if I need to explain this, but gas masks are a reference to Chornobyl.

Quote at 1:00: "From the deepest past we are looking at you with hope - our descendents, sons and daughters of a great and ancient nation".

Quote at 1:04: "[Make] love, ukrainians, because we are worth it".

1:49-1:50 - the very "ancestors in Solovki" - some of the numerous people who were sent to die there. Following that, videoclips of the destruction of churches - a lot of unique ukrainian architecture was destroyed by the soviets under a guise of a fight with "nationalistic bourgeoisie" and "fight with the religion".

1:52 - the man is Mikhaylo Poplavsky, a famour pop-singer and a principal of one of the most famous universities. Known for abusing a stereotypical image of a ukrainian in his music and sexually harassing his female students. At the same timecode you can see a photo of sausage with a discimally high price due to the inflation in the 90s after the ussr fell apart.

1:55 - the word on the keyboard is "Kuchma"

2:00-2:03 - a montage of different visual materials representing "sharovarshchyna" - a stereotypical depiction of ukrainians as funny gluttonous docile hilly-billies. Usually considered degrogatory, and although introduced by the imperialistic (russian) narrative, often repeated and recreated by ukrainians themselves.

2:12 - and that is Kuchma. As a ukrainian, I am allowing you to spit on him.

2:26 - "Potentionally sensitive content. This image can show scenes of violence and brutality" - Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks often censor images of the destruction in Ukraine that we share, virtually silencing us. They also often ban accounts of volounteers who collect money for the humanitarian help and army for "hate speech", but curiously not russians calling for our immediate eradication.

2:40 - you can see photoes of two politicians, Yulia Tymoshenko and Viktor Yushchenko. Yulia is an oppositional politician known for being buddy-buds with russian oil oligharks. Yushchenko was our third president after Kuchma. The "Orange revolution" of 2004 happened because Viktor Yanukovich forged the election results in a desperate power grab. The votes were recounted and Yushchenko became the president, but Yanyk would nevertheless be elected in 2010. Yushchenko survived poisoning by the russians, and if you look at his photoes from now, you can see the mark it left on his face. He was a dissapoining president, but stood out for having a pro-ukrainian political position.